HURLEY, the lovable fat guy on “Lost” is finally going to get his day in the sun. The highly anticipated episode called “Numbers” that will feature Hurley’s back story is scheduled to air this week

The character, played by Jorge Garcia as a carrot-haired everyman, prone to using the word “dude,” has become a fan favorite on the hit drama about a group of people marooned on a mysterious island that, after “Desperate Housewives,” taken the 2004-2005 TV season by storm.

On this week’s episode Hurley becomes obsessed with the unbalanced French woman (Lillian Hurst) who’s been stuck on the island for nearly 20 years. Although she tortured Hurley’s co-castaway, Sayid, in a previous episode, he heads out into the jungle to find her. As he and his friends search for the woman, his back story – which has something to do with a winning lottery ticket – is told.

Garcia, a television newcomer, was discovered by “Lost” producers last year during an appearance as a drug dealer on an episode of HBO’s hit comedy, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

His character was originally supposed to be a 50-year-old redneck hunter, but producers like Garcia so much at his audition that they decided to make him a regular and recreated the role to fit his personality.

Through a combination of charm, acting chops and a willingness to break down the barrier between fans and celebrities, Garcia, an overweight, personable fellow with a motley haircut, has emerged a one of the most popular members of a cast made up almost entirely of beautiful people who could double as runway models.

Each week, as the drama unfolds on the island, a flashback scenes explain the reason why various characters were passengers on the doomed airliner that crashed on the island. And in a throwback to the secrecy that once surrounded scripts of “The X-Files,” the details of each episode of “Lost” are also shrouded in an inpenetrable fog. Don’t even think about hitting up the show’s actors and producers for clues.

Still, on a popular Web site sponsored by the show’s creator, J.J. Abrams (www.thefuselage.com), Garcia has let it slip that in “Numbers” he goes by the name Hugo throughout most of his flashback scenes and that there’s a scene with a bridge that scared the dickens out of him when it was being filmed.

His honest, personable responses to fan questions and willingness to answer nearly every last one of the hundreds that are posted each week have only endeared him further to fans.

Among his revelations is that despite being paid a mint – as most TV actors are – he still drives a Toyota Corolla. “Pretty glamorous huh?” he jokes.